


From The Forest To The Sea

by autistic_zombie_boy



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, Author is still ignoring canon and writing happy aus cause he can and will continue to do so, Basically this is how Kotatsu joined the spade pirates, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Heavily inspired by princess mononoke and religion in general (particularly witchcraft and paganism), Suicidal Thoughts, The maiden of the sea/Mother Nature au idk what I’m calling this, alternate universe- forest guardians, background animal death (kinda?), but also a what if Kotatsu was some sort of forest guardian/elder god/being thing, kinda I’m not sure how to tag it, minor hurt/comfort, there’s mentions of poaching and deforestation so i feel like that should be tagged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25272322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autistic_zombie_boy/pseuds/autistic_zombie_boy
Summary: He had lived a long life, he had seen his home thrive and die, he had seen countless humans of all different types. But he had never seen a human quite like this one.
Relationships: Kotatsu & The Spade Pirates, Portgas D. Ace & Kotatsu
Comments: 13
Kudos: 40





	From The Forest To The Sea

**Author's Note:**

> I drew how Kotatsu might look in this a while ago and I meant to write this sooner but i just now got it finished
> 
> Here’s my art: https://autpunk-artist.tumblr.com/post/620214475593760768/forest-guardianeldritch-being-kotatsu-anyone-in   
> If anyone is interested in more hit me up on my art blog lol
> 
> Mentions of   
> Poaching  
> Deforestation  
> And a suicide attempt (kinda)
> 
> Also I didn’t edit this at all so I’m sorry if it’s a mess I just needed to write this and post it to get it out of my system but it’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve written in a long time, I adore writing fantasy stuff so this was really fun

His home had changed constantly, consistently,  _ drastically _ in the eons he had lived there. 

The trees grew strong, the leaves changed with the seasons, the animals were born, thrived, then died in the same cycle of life he had known very well. At one point humans arrived, their presence was jarring for many of them at first but he learned to adapt. They all did.

They adapted to being hunted. To the forests being torn apart and their land changed for the humans needs. To the ships that arrived in troves full of loud humans, quiet humans, and all other humans in between. 

Change was a fact of life and he had accepted it long ago. He accepted the unpredictable future, that while he could hear every plant and animal soul on his island and call upon the maiden for her song, he couldn’t stop change.

The only constant was the ocean. That horizon in the distance he could never see the end of. The maidens faint song calling out to all of her creations, her voice little more than a whisper most days and some a wailing cry.

He could never tell what her songs meant.

Some brought him sorrow, some pain, others made his heart ache to curl up in her arms as he used to-- had he ever done that before? He couldn’t remember. It had been so long but surely he had? The maiden was…

Who was she to him?

A creator?

A mother?

Or was she just something he had made up to feel less lonely as the other beings on their island eventually left him alone?

He couldn’t remember but he hoped the memories of hands stroking his fur and a sweet voice humming in his ears were real.

He didn’t want to have made those memories up.

* * *

  
  


New humans started to arrive on their island.

These weren’t like the usual ones.

Not like the ones that too up a little too much land, were too loud as they traversed the island and hunted a little too many animals and cut down a few too many trees for his liking.

No.

These humans were worse than the ‘native’ humans that lived on this island for centuries before.

They wiped out species entirely. Leveled forests. Destroyed the land till it was made perfect in their warped vision with statues of their likeness and houses big enough to house entire villages for single families.

They even killed their own kind to feed their own greed.

He hated these new humans with a passion.

As they destroyed the island he retreated into the mountains, taking along as many animals as he could and he hid. 

He tried to fight at first, he killed many intruders, destroyed their homes in turn for destroying his. The animals or the island fought with him as well. It was their home too, after all. And they were strengthened by his resolve to fight, to protect them.

But that didn’t last.

As the island died his strength waned and he could only protect a small section of the once lush forest. The animals could no longer derive strength from him either. 

After all, it was hard to find strength when no one believed in the old gods anymore.

He knew that he could either die fighting a pointless fight or he could retreat and protect what he, what  _ they _ , had left.

And protect it they did. 

For a long time, humans didn’t dare touch the mountain the old god resided on. They came close many times, but he was strong enough still to keep them at bay.

Until he wasn’t. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed- - time had always been such a human concept, one he never understood- - but many of his friends had died off, the land had continued to change, and the humans had gotten much more bold over the years. 

He caught stories of a king falling from his throne, promising it to grant the crown to anyone who found his treasure. They said the man had been to this island before but he was sure there was no treasure here. 

There was barely anything left here.

Yet that didn’t stop the humans from taking the bones of the once glorious island and burning them to the ground.

He watched what was left of his home get ripped away and there was nothing he could do. 

He was tired of fighting it. 

He had nothing left to fight for, no animals, no home, no maiden.

He couldn’t even be angry anymore.

With a broken heart and an injured body, a trapped still climbed on his hind leg, he stowed away in a small cave, ignoring the smell of defeat that came in the form of smog and rot, to sleep away the rest of his life, mourning his failure.

…

…

That had been the plan at least.

Only a few months passed, winter turning to summer, when he was rudely awoken from his slumber by a loud ruckus outside of the cave. 

Curious, the old god raised up and edged closer to see what was happening.

A human-- a young one at that, barely out of adolescence it appeared-- was surrounded by several other humans of various sizes and ages, all bigger and older than the young one though. 

Normally, he wouldn’t bother in the affairs of humans, but this one…

This young one was different…

This one sparked a feeling in the forest guardian's chest, one he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

He wanted to protect this human.

And he was about to, if not for that human to speak up first.

“Come on,” The young one sounded amused, they sounded ‘male’, not cocky but genuinely giddy, like he were playing a game even when surrounded by large humans with weapons, “Ya really don’t wanna do this.”

“I think we do,” The smallest of the bigger humans said- - they must be in charge, “And I think, if you wanna keep your head on your shoulders, you best start begging for mercy.”

The small one laughed and rocked on his feet, humming as he mock-thought it over.

“Nah,” he said, their stance changing into one for a fight, his aura going from carefree to confident, “I’d rather kick y’all’s asses.”

The big ones didn’t bother with speaking much more, aside from cries of rage, as they charged the small one. 

He almost intervened right then, but the small one laughed again and suddenly the human’s body was engulfed in golden flames. The big ones, as hard as they tried, couldn’t keep up. And the small one was dodging attacks and throwing punches, all while laughing in glee, until he was the only one still conscious.

“All talk,” the human said with a sigh and a head shake, standing from his crouched position just as another human stumbled through the dead brush. This human didn’t alarm the small human though, instead the small one laughed and waved at them, “Hey, Deuce! Ya missed the fun!”

The other one-- Deuce-- let out a noise not unlike the sound a deer makes when it has fangs in it’s throat.

“Captain! What did you do?! What happened?!” Deuce sounded male as well, and had his hands in his blue hair, tugging on it as he got closer.

The small one just laughed again and shrugged, “got inta a fight. It wasn’t a big-“ he then cut himself off and paused before looking around.

Deuce paused as well, voice dropping, “Captain-- Ace what’s-?”

“Shh,”  _ Ace _ shushed, looking around, his gaze stopping at the entrance of the cave, he said nothing for a long moment before slowly walking over. His stance wasn’t threatening, his hands in the pockets of his black shorts and shoulders relaxed, his expression was curious as he peered up at the cave from his spot at the base of the small incline. Deuce had trailed after him, his expression much more apprehensive but he didn’t make any threatening movements-- he called Ace, ‘Captain’ earlier, he must be waiting for orders.

“What-“

“There’s a cat,” Ace said, voice full of awe as he crept closer, bending at the knees and extending a hand as he made small noises.

He was a little shocked, this small human had found him out- - without Haki, normally only those with extremely strong Haki could find him out but this one was different- - and was now trying to get him out like one would with a feral house cat.

He liked this human.

With sure steps, only hindered by the trap around his leg, he slunk out of the cave. He didn’t miss the way Deuce fell over at the sight of him-- that was a fairly normal reaction-- but he was far more focused on Ace’s reaction. The small one’s face lit up, a wide smile baring sharp fangs spread across his face and his spots-- freckles? That’s what those were called-- shimmered almost unnoticeably. Maybe a human couldn’t see it, but the guardian could see it clearly.

_ Ah. A D.  _ He hadn’t seen one of those in a long time. Not since that one young lady, with the flowers in her hair and her… spots…

He sniffed the air curiously as he crept closer to the humans-- well the human and the D. But maybe D.’s were considered human now. He didn’t know how much the world had changed. 

But he knew this. Everyone had a different scent, but mothers often passed on their scent to their children. Survival and all that. 

And Ace had the same scent as the young woman with flowers in her hair he discovered as he pressed his head into Ace’s open hand. He also smelled of warm flames of a devil's fruit, and hurt, despair and exhaustion. It was a curious collection of scents, one the guardian didn’t know if he liked or not, on one hand, the warmth was nice, but on the other, the human had a scent that held so much heartache and pain. It wasn’t a scent a child should have and that made the gaurdian yearn to learn more, curious about a human for the first time in his life.

Ace made a small noise in awe and he slowly rubbed the elder god’s fur. The human’s touch was warm and confidant as he scratched under the god’s chin. 

“Good kitty,” Ace whispered and Deuce made a choked noise.

“ _ Ace! That is not a kitty- _ “

“I know,” Ace rolled his eyes, shooting the other a look, “I know what a normal kitty looks like, Deuce.” He then turned back to the god, “This is like a… lynx ‘r somethin’.”

“What?!”

“Yea! A wild cat,” Ace said, “Like tiger lord but… smaller, like a wolf ‘r somethin’.”

Deuce made another noise, he made a lot of noises, “Like who?”

“Tiger lord,” Ace supplied but didn’t delve further, he looked back that the elder god’s legs and slowly moved, “Would you like me to get you outta that?”

The gaurdian just settled down on the ground and allowed Ace to moved to his side, crouching down at his hind legs. Ace hummed and lightly poked the trap around his leg. 

“Hmm, this doesn’t look to good…” Ace muttered, “And I bet it hurts too, it’s not fun to get caught in one of these things, I know that much.”

“You know-“

“Deuce,” Ace cut him off, pity, the gaurdian was curious to what he meant by that, “Ya got any medical junk with ya?”

Deuce paused and looked in his side bag before shaking his head, “Nothing that will help… Could you take the…  _ lynx _ back to the ship..?”

Ace blinked before looking back at the guardian, “Can I?” He asked, waiting for the god to answer.

He just watched the two humans, deciding that he might as well. Months ago he had hauled himself up in a cave to die, what was the worse that could happen if he trusted these two? After all, they didn’t seem untrustworthy either.

He let out growl, soft and easy, and was about to stand up when Ace moved first. The human picked him up with ease despite how the forest guardian was easily twice his size. For the first time Deuce didn’t seem shocked by what his captain was doing so the god just let the small human shift and carry him through the forest.

This was interesting.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Ace offered to let him go after he fixed his leg. He said that his crew would be sailing off the next morning and the old god was welcome to stay with them if he wanted, but he could leave if he wanted to. 

Ace said that with sad eyes, he didn’t want the guardian to go but he wouldn’t fight it if he did.

The choice was easy for the elder guardian.

* * *

He had a special bed in the captain’s quarters that also belonged to  _ his _ human. He had a bandana around his neck with his human’s Jolly Roger and a strong collar with tags that declared his name on them proudly.

He had lost one home, lost a family in his forest, but he gained a new home and family when a lost human stumbled upon him.

His name was Kotatsu now.

Ace had tried many names for him, but that one had stuck. 

Kotatsu.

Ko-ta-tsu.

He had a name now. Such a pleasant name too, one that brought warmth to his chest not unlike the warmth his human gave him with his soft pets and cheerful laugh.

He was no longer a forest guardian, no. 

B ut he still had an important job. A treasure to guard and protect.

Now he guarded his captain, from those called the marines, from other pirates, and from his captain’s own demons that showed their ugly faces late at night, forcing his captain awake with tears in his eyes and a plead on his lips.  Kotatsu knew those were the most dangerous things he had to fight now, but he would gladly do it. He would keep watch over his human until his dying breath, be it his or Ace’s. 

He was no longer a forest guardian, no, now he was a ship’s cat, a guardian of the seas and a pet to a human that shone like a star and a crew that would follow him to the edges of the sea.

* * *

Somewhere on the sea, a lullaby carried across the waves as a mother smiled. It seemed one of her children had found a home once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Look at that cliche ending lol I almost put a song there
> 
> So this is probably gonna stay a one shot, but I really like the concept of forest guardian!Kotatsu and D’s being some type of fae/eldritch beings so I might do more ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ might not. Might do something with Stefan being a guardian being like Kotatsu or something idk I’m just doing self indulgent stuff at this point lmao
> 
> Uhh, anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed? And if anyone wants more of this au you can hmu on tumblr @autpunk-artist lol
> 
> Nnyways!! That’s all, thanks for reading and stay safe!!! Bye!!


End file.
